A number of cosmetic compositions able to homogenize skin color and blur its relief, namely render variations in color and microreliefs of the skin, pores, and wrinkles less visible, has been proposed. These compositions are composed of powders dispersed in a binder. The powders generally contain colored pigments such as iron oxides and particulate additives such as mica or talc which are in the lamellar form, or silica in the platelet form. The effect is essentially achieved by means of the covering power provided by the lamellar additives; see for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,163.
A drawback to such compositions is that the blurring of the skin defects is provided by the covering power of the compositions, meaning that the composition applied to the skin is not translucent and does not confer a natural appearance on skin made up in this way. As a reminder, a makeup product is deemed to have covering power when it is able to mask imperfections in the skin by means of its opacity and/or its ability to reflect light. The use of lamellar additives has been considered as a way of increasing the impression of transparency (see also U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,163). In fact, however, lamellar additives act largely by reflecting light and for this reason have the disadvantage of conferring a somewhat unnaturally glossy appearance on the skin; see for example published Japanese application JP 61-69708, which proposes, as a remedy, preparing compositions wherein the particles of the additive are coated with an acrylic resin. A drawback to such compositions is that their preparation requires prior coating treatment whose integrity in the final formulation is not actually ensured.
Compositions have also been proposed which allow a film that masks wrinkles to be applied to the skin, these compositions containing in particular a water-soluble film-forming polymer, a plasticizer and a particulate additive such as a zeolite powder; see PCT WO 90/04383. The masking layer must in general be supplemented by a makeup layer. The skin receiving such an application does not have a natural appearance in this case either.